The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received on the use of illegal sub-contracting employment arrangements in Colombia.
Mr Hugo Swire
Her Majesty’s Government has not received official reports on the scale of illegal sub-contracting employment in Colombia.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the average cost per mile of electrification of a railway line in the UK.
Claire Perry
The Department for Transport does not delineate the average cost per mile of electrification from the wider rail upgrade works that it funds in England and Wales. The Government’s commitment to a rolling programme of electrification is reliant on a wider set of enhancement works to make journeys better. This often includes track works, gauging, signalling upgrades, power supply works and station works to allow electric trains to run. The Department does not make an estimate of the average cost per mile of electrification as the engineering complexity and challenge varies significantly across England and Wales. Electrification works in Scotland are devolved to the Scottish Government.
However, we are aware of the significant cost to the industry and the wider public of the failure of the Labour Governments of 1997 to 2010 to progress electrification schemes across the country. This Government is determined to rectify this failure.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-04-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 22 April 2016 to Question 34372, whether Petroleum Exploration and Development Licence 189 was one of the licences included in the Deed of Variation dated 4 December 2013, allowing the drilling of 10 wells to a depth of 800 metres and three wells to 3,000 metres on 13 specified licences.
Andrea Leadsom
A Deed of Variation was made on 4 December 2013 in respect of Licence PEDL189. It amended both the Licence’s Initial Term Work Programme and the date at which the Licence’s Initial Term would expire. A further variation has been sought by the licensee, and while it remains the case as I said in the answer I gave the hon. Member on 22 April that no such variation has been agreed, that request is under consideration from the Oil and Gas Authority and a decision will be made shortly:
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-01-11.
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what progress the Government is making on negotiating the removal of VAT on women’s sanitary products.
Mr David Gauke
I have written to the European Commission and other Member States setting out our strong view that Member States should have full discretion over what rate of VAT they can apply to sanitary products, and that this should be considered in the context of the Commission’s Action Plan on VAT, which is now expected to be published in March 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the cost of upgrading the M56 to a smart motorway between junctions 12 and 14.
Andrew Jones
No work has been done to estimate the costs of upgrading the M56 to a smart motorway between Junctions 12 and 14 as this scheme is not within the first Road Investment Strategy (RIS). Highways England is working hard to deliver the schemes set out in the RIS in the first Road Period 2015-20.
Future investment in the strategic road network is currently being developed through Highways England’s Route Strategies process, which will be used to plan new investments in the second Road Period 2020-25.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-05-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information he holds on the (a) military representation that will accompany President Santos of Colombia on his state visit to the UK in November 2016 and (b) rank and function of each such military representative.
Mr Hugo Swire
I am delighted that Her Majesty The Queen has invited President Santos and the First Lady of Colombia to the UK for the Autumn State Visit. HMG is in regular communication with the Colombian Government in the preparation for the Visit. Details of the programme including the composition of the Official Suite accompanying the President are yet to be confirmed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-01-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what initial assessment she has made of the implications of the incident at Porter Ranch, California, for safety and engineering procedures and standards in the UK onshore unconventional gas extraction sector.
Andrea Leadsom
In the UK, we have an entirely different regulatory system to the US.
We have over 50 years of experience in safely conducting surface activities and constructing onshore gas wells, regulated by the Health & Safety Executive and Environment Agency.
Our tough regulations ensure on-site safety, prevent water contamination, mitigate seismic activity and air pollution. To reinforce our already robust regulations, the Infrastructure Act 2015 introduced a range of further requirements that must be met before an operator can carry out hydraulic fracturing in a responsible, sustainable and safe manner. These include the assessment of environmental impacts, groundwater monitoring, community benefits and prohibiting hydraulic fracturing in specified protected areas.
The UK has one of the best track records in the world when it comes to protecting our environment while also developing our industries – and we’ve brought that experience to bear on the shale gas protections.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the average cost per mile to upgrade a motorway to a smart motorway.
Andrew Jones
Highways England has an improvement programme to create additional network capacity by utilising the motorway hard shoulder as an additional lane. This is known as the Smart Motorway Programme.
The cost depends on the scope and nature of each scheme and is heavily influenced by factors such as the number of junctions and the extent of work needed to existing structures.
Based on the actual or forecast actual cost of relevant schemes started over the past five years, the total cost ranges from £7.5-£8.8m per mile of additional network capacity (using a common price base of March 2015).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-07-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of key stage 2 tests in 2016 have required remarking.
Nick Gibb
If a school believes that there is a discrepancy between how questions have been marked and the published mark scheme for Key Stage 2 National Curriculum tests, they had until 15 July 2016 to apply for a marking review. Statistics related to marking reviews will be published in November 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-01-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many terrorism-related suspects on police bail have (a) been ordered to relinquish and (b) relinquished their UK passports since January 2013.
Mr John Hayes
Individuals suspected of terrorism-related offences can be arrested under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) or the Terrorism Act 2000 (TACT). The decision on which power of arrest to use is an operational judgement for police, and will depend on the circumstances of the case.
Individuals arrested under TACT cannot be released on police bail. By contrast, those suspected of terrorism-related offences arrested under PACE must be bailed once the grounds for detention no longer apply. Figures for the number of terrorism-related suspects on police bail that have been ordered to relinquish their passports, or have relinquished their passports, are not collected.
As the Secretary of State for the Home Department said in the House on 05 January 2016, figures for the number of people who have absconded whilst on police bail for terrorism offences are also not collected.
Figures for those who fail to surrender to bail are collected, but these figures are not separated into categories of offence. These figures are publically available and can be found as follows: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2014